Elizabetfi ryan executrix of



(No Model.)

J. RYAN, Decd.

E. RYAN, Executrix. MEANS FOR LUBRIGATING GAS PUMPS.

No. 437,341. Patentd Sept. 30, 18

i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. Y

JOSEPH RYAN, OF'ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI; ELIZABETH RYAN EXECUTRIX OF SAID JOSEPH RYAN, DEOEASED.

MEANS FOR LUBRICATING GAS-PUMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 437,3111, dated September 30, 1890.

Application lerl March 25, 1889. Serial No. 304,708. (No model.) i I To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH RYAN, of St. Louis, Missouri, have made a new and useful Improvement in the Means for Lubricating Gas-Pumps, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the improvement is to secure evenness and regularity in the automatic feeding of the lubricating-oil to the pump and its parts; and it consist-s of an oil-supply reservoir placed at a point higher than Vthe parts to be lubricated, said reservoir being closed against the atmosphere and its pressure and having the interior of said reservoir in cornmunication with the inlet-pipe of the pump, substantially as hereinafter described and claimed, aided by the annexed drawing, which shows in elevation the application of the improvement to ammonia-pumps of a familiar type.

Referring to said drawing, A B represent the cylinders of two single-acting gas-compression pumps driven by a central engine, of which C represents the cylinder, all of which maybe of any of the usual forms of construction.

D represents the inlet-pipe of the pumps, which by the aid of the branch pipes d d conducts a supply of gas to the pumps A and B.

E represents the reservoir from which the lubricant is fed. Said reservoir is placed at a level above the parts to be lubricated, and it may be of any suitable form. It may be filled through the pipe and cock c by means of the funnel c or by any other suitable means.

e2 represents a glass gage for indicating the quantity of the lubricant in the reservoir; cl2, a pipe forming communication between the inlet-pipe D and the upper end of the reservoirE; d3, a pipe forming communication between the inlet-pipe D and the lower end of the reservoir E 034 d5, cocks in the pipes d2 and d3, respectively.

I explain the operation of the improvement as follows: Suppose the reservoir E to be supplied with oil and closed from the atmosphere, the pipe d2 removed or closed, and the outletpipe d3 open. Owing to the want of vent to the reservoir no regular quantity of oil, if any, would be discharged through the pipe d3.

If now the reservoir should be opened at its top to the atmosphere and its pressure, (the pumps being supposed to bein operation,) the elect would be asfollows: First, if the pressure in the inlet-pipe D was less than atmospheric pressure, the partial vacuum in the inlet-pipe D would cause a suction, as it were, of the oil in the reservoir through the outletpipe d3 into the inlet-pipe D, and therebyincrease the speed of said iow of the oil in excess of what it would be Without said diiference in pressure and consequent suction; second, if the pressure in the inlet-pipe D were greater than that of the atmosphere, the gas from theinlet-pipe D would blow through the pipe d5 and thence into and through the reservoir and 'the oil therein, and thereby prevent any oil from descending through the pipe d3 during the continuance of the described conditions.

lVhen the pumps are in operation, the pressure of the gas in the inlet-pipe D is liable to vary, and thereby produce conditions similar to or approaching those above described, causing corresponding variations in the rate of discharge of oil from the reservoir into and through the outlet-pipe d3, and in some cases to cause a total suspension of said discharge, as illustrated in the foregoing supposed cases. To prevent this irregular rate of discharge of oil and to secure an automatic regular discharge (saving the occasional adjustment of the cock d5) is the object and effect of this improvement. Said effect is secured by closing the reservoir from the atmosphere and its pressure, introducing the pipe d2, and opening the cock therein d4, thereby allowing the gas in the inlet-pipe D to pass into the oilreservoir, whereby the pressure applied to the top of the oil is the same as that applied upwardly against the oil at the outlet. The pressures downward and upward arel equalizedthat is, the pressure against the oil in both directions is always the same as the pressure existing in the inlet-pipe D whether that pressure be high or alow, excepting only the gravity of the oil, which is then the only pressure operating to cause a discharge of the oil. This pressure of gravit-y may be made uniform by maintaining a uniform height of oil IOO in the reservoir, which can be easily observed by means of the glass gage e2.

The reservoir can be replenished with oil most easily when the pressure in the inletpipe D, and hence in the reservoir, is lower than atmospheric pressure by then merely turning oil in the funnel e and opening the cook e, when by reason of the partial vacuum existing in the reservoir theoil will be drawn therein.

When the` pressure in the inlet-pipe D is not as low as desired for the above or any other purpose, it can easily be lowered when the pumps are in operation by partially or wholly closing the valve d in the inlet-pipe D, and thereby reducing or stopping the supply of gas to the pumps. e

I claim- The combination of the pumps A B, the engine C, opera-ting said pumps, the ammoniainlet pipe D, having the stop-cock CZ and provided with the arms d d', communicating, respectively, with the pumps A B, the lubrioator-reservoir E, Closed against air-pressure, situated above the pumps, with its upper end above the pipe D, the pipe d2, connecting the upper portions of the pipe D and the reservoir E and provided with the cock d4, and the pipe d3, connecting the lower part of the reservoir with the pipe D above the pipes d d and provided with the Cock d5, substantially l as specified.

Witness my hand this 21st day of March, 

